Project Lore

Proverb is a rare yet delicious column discussing the lore of Warcraft. It is spoiler heavy for all Warcraft games, novels, and other media. Comment on this post or send a tweet to @Heartbourne and let us know what you would like to see in future columns!

The Twilight's Hammer is encountered by players all over World of Warcraft. From ousting the cultists defending Aku'mai in the Blackfathom Deeps to skipping Jedoga Shadowseeker when farming heroic Ahn'Kahet, the cult has made their mark nearly everywhere in the world of Azeroth and beyond.

The Twilight's Hammer started out as an orcish clan. Before even the first war, the orcish warlock Gul'dan formed the Shadow Council, an organization bent on serving the Burning Legion and spreading the practices of various dark magics to all of the orcish clans. Most of the major orcish clans had allied under the banner of the Horde and began exterminating the draenei for conquest. The Shadow Council became a secretive organization that controlled the Horde behind the scenes - they appointed the Warchief and communicated directly with Kil'jaeden and other Burning Legion demons.

Gul'dan, practicing his dark magic, ran several experiments on the ogres native to Draenor. He created the two-headed ogres, and one of them, Cho'gall (left head Cho, right head Gall), became Gul'dan's apprentice. He was one of the first ogres to learn of arcane magic and became a powerful spellcaster. He was also insane, probably part of the side effects of having two heads and being able to command magic. Perhaps from brainwashing from Gul'dan, he believed Armageddon would soon arrive, and the Horde would bring it into fruition.

Bored with killing Draenei, Gul'dan was looking for other things to do. He was soon contacted by Medivh (possessed by the demon Sargeras), who told him to open a portal to the world of Azeroth, since there were lots of things to kill there, like humans! Additionally, the Tomb of Sargeras lay in Azeroth, a place were untold power could be found at the resting place of an Avatar of Sargeras. Gul'dan opened the portal, named Blackhand, Warchief of the Horde, and the First War of orcs and humans began.

The orcs ravaged Azeroth, united under the banner of the horde. Gul'dan was elated and wanted to get his pet student Cho'gall in on the action. He staged a coup d'état on one of the orcish clans, erased all records of their history and leader, and appointed Cho'gall the new leader. The clan took on the name Twilight's Hammer and was intensely loyal to Gul'dan and the Shadow Council, more so than the Horde. The powerful and united Horde destroyed most of the human settlements south of Ironforge, including Stormwind. Unfortunately for Gul'dan, the humans became aware of Medivh's treachery and attacked his home in Karazhan. Gul'dan quickly attempted to comune with Medivh to find where exactly the Tomb of Sargeras was, since he was one of the only ones who knew and it was perhaps the biggest reason Gul'dan invaded Azeroth in the first place. During their telepathic communication, a band of humans slew Medivh, and Gul'dan's mind was severally damaged. He went into a coma and the Shadow Council lacked an active leader.

Without the council of Gul'dan, Blackhand's recklessness and corruption became apparent. As knowledge of the Shadow Council spread amongst the Horde, it didn't take long for Blackhand to be slain by an orc who would supplant the position of Warchief - Orgrim Doomhammer. Under his command, the Horde ousted and killed much of the Shadow Council.